


Affairs of Life and Death

by PrincessPersephone123



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Love, Post-Zayn One Direction, Saving the World, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26580070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessPersephone123/pseuds/PrincessPersephone123
Summary: It's a dark and unforgiving night and every demon in Louis Tomlinson's mind has come to play.Who will save him?
Relationships: Louis Tomlinson & Original Female Character(s), Louis Tomlinson/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	Affairs of Life and Death

It was a dark and freezing night as Louis stood on the bridge over the River Thames staring into its dark, icy currents that glittered threateningly and warningly. He was drunk, he had had too much to drink and he had decided to stumble back home but instead he found himself standing staring down at the Thames, contemplating the thought of jumping into the deliciously icy cold sharp water that would drown him. Louis was buzzing with thoughts wondering if he jumped would he put in the effort to swim and save himself or let the water drown him and wash him away to the shore? He thought of his mother with her warm smile and his sweet sister who had left him too early, and he couldn't save them no matter how hard he had tried. No one cared that he was standing over this bridge, there was no one at this time of the night... it was dark and lonely. It made him feel empty and depressed as all the dark and hurtful thoughts that he always tried to suppress and run away from started to emerge and tease him, inviting him to just jump and end his misery. It was the easy way out, he would end his useless existence where no one really cared about him and finally feel no pain.

He was too absorbed, tears streaming down his face as he gasped for air feeling the numbing pain and hurt kill him so much that he didn't hear footsteps coming towards him and he felt someone pull him away from the edge of the bridge. He was numb, reeling in absolute and complete shock for a few moments that he it took him some time to understand that the person who pulled him away from the edge of the bridge was now walking away with a dark purpose into the dark night and he breathed in weakly as he stared at the silhouette of his rescuer and then faintly called out.

"Did you help me?"

The silhouette in the dark kept walking without caring about him, not even stopping to make sure that he was okay but all Louis heard from the silhouette in reply was a gruff and dark voice that was slightly feminine.

"Yes."

"Why?" inquired Louis, his mind that was fueled by alcohol buzzing with desperation and depression, pain of heartbreak and guilt and curiosity as he wanted to know who this stranger who saved him was. He wanted to see the stranger's face but it was too dark and all he could see was the back of the silhouette.

"Your life is not your own to take. It belongs to those who love you and care for you." said the stranger quietly, too quietly with a hint of darkness in the voice that Louis still couldn't distinguish but he saw that this stranger had stopped walking and was now very still "Keep your hands off it."

"I have no one who loves me." said Louis desperately, his voice edged with pain and heartbreak, infuriated with this stranger who wouldn't even face him and look at him in the eye. "I am alone! I have nothing left to live for!"

"You have your son." replied the stranger knowingly and at that very moment Louis froze at those words, thoughts of Freddie dawning on him and he realized what he had done - thinking of his sweet and lively son made Louis choke on his sob because he had - he was acting on impulse, on a long wanted desire yet for once, he had not thought of his own flesh and blood son who loved and depended on him. And then another thought struck him? Who was this stranger? As if the universe had heard his question, the stranger finally turned to face him.

The stranger was not who he expected to be. It was a very beautiful woman. She was wearing a long flowing sleek black coat, an aesthetically appealing emerald green sweater, and navy blue pants with dark black combat boots. Around her neck was a gold filigree heart necklace and on her right hand there was a shining sapphire blue rose ring. She dug her hands into the pockets to fight off the cold and in the dark, she stood with immaculate grace and steady strength that could scare off anyone. But that's not what intrigued Louis whose eyes widened at the sight of his savior whose face he finally saw at last as she walked deliberately and slowly towards him. Her brown freckled face was hard as stone and cold as ice. That was the only way Louis could describe her. Her eyes were dark as the night but a flicker of blue could be seen in them. As she approached him, Louis experienced the lack of saliva as his throat went dry and his eyes widened at the sight of her. This was no ordinary woman. She looked like one of those mysterious gods that would appear from thin air in fairytales to save the day but she didn't look nice. Nothing about her was nice and soft like other women. As he looked at her, Louis remembered the hard, cold and chiseled faces of ancient Greek statues that he had seen in Italy except the stone statues were smiling and kind unlike this woman who was hard, mysterious and dark. For a woman, she was quite above the standard of beautiful. In fact, she held and made her own standard of beautiful, if one could call dark and mysterious brooding, a type of beautiful for a woman.

Louis was speechless as he looked into her cold dark eyes and the woman said something that he didn't expect "Kebabs?"

"I'm sorry?" asked Louis wondering whether he had heard correctly and blinked at the woman who was wearing an impassive and blank expression.

"You're suicidal. You're entitled to kebabs." replied the woman with a flicker of a ghostly smile that Louis thought he saw but it vanished as soon as it came. The woman turned around and started to walk and for some reason, Louis started to follow her.

The woman was a fast walker and she made no move to hold his hand or comfort him as she walked briskly towards a kebab shop called Kebab King, its warm orange and yellow lights glowing in the dark warmly and welcomingly. Louis felt hungry as he breathed in the delicious smell of chicken and lamb coming out of the shop and then he wanted to protest because he didn't want to risk running into any fans in the kebab shop in this state he was in but as his stomach grumbled in hunger and he looked at the steely and cold woman who was walking in front of him, he thought it would be best not to protest as he followed her into the diner. The diner was empty as they entered much to Louis' relief and although he didn't know who this stranger was, he had a feeling that she knew that this particular diner would be empty at this time and that is why she had bought him here. As they entered, a jolly grinning woman bustled out of the kitchen with the brightest smile that almost blinded Louis as she ran towards them and for a moment, Louis thought that she had recognized him and was going to hug him. But to his surprise, the woman with the sunny grin hugged the cold stranger he was with as she welcomed her warmly as the stranger and the woman talked in a friendly manner in a language that was foreign to Louis and he couldn't understand a word that they were saying. The woman was chattering happily to the stranger who had already taken her seat and Louis awkwardly took a seat in front of her as well, looking at the menu while his savior made certain remarks which were apparently sweet and funny because the woman was smiling affectionately and laughing at everything that this cold woman was saying.

"Oh my friend, you have bought someone with you!" said the woman finally lapsing into English that Louis could understand as he smiled weakly at the lady who was looking at him motherly "Oh look at him, he is all skin and bone! He must be fed very well. Where did you find him? The poor boy is starved to death."

Louis had a few things to say to that but the cold woman's lips twitched as she replied calmly "Fathima, give him your foolproof hangover prevention kit. And as for me, I will have chicken shawarma, the mixed grill special and large portion of chips."

Louis cracked a smile at how large his icy brooding savior's appetite was and she saw this but didn't say anything. They were silent for a while as Louis looked at his savior intensely while the lady of stone had taken a book from Fathima's bookshelf written in the Turkish language and now she was absorbed in reading it. Louis bit his lip as he inhaled the amazing smell of the burgers and the chicken and lamb and the greasy chips and in a strange reason, he felt content. He observed the woman now who was clearer in the light, more stunning as she wore her reading glasses keenly reading the book written in Turkish, not paying attention to Louis' inner turmoil of the questions that were spinning in his head that he wanted to ask her. Louis wanted answers to his questions and he wanted to talk with this woman about what happened tonight so he wasn't going to be ignored.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Louis seeing a streak of irritation cross the woman's face annoyed at being interrupted while reading "Why have you bought me here? You could have just left me there. You were going to leave me there. Why are you being nice to me and feeding me?"

"My mother used to say, first we eat and then we do everything else." said the woman who looked at Louis with an unreadable expression that had a slight gentleness to it "So first you have to eat and fill your stomach and then go home and sleep it off."

"Who are you?" asked Louis curiously as he rubbed his hands together, feeling much more warmer inside this diner.

"No. The question is who are you? You're Louis Tomlinson." said the stranger calmly as she shut her book and looked at him observantly "And you are a famous heartthrob with money and cars and fans and everything anyone could ever desire in life yet tonight you were intoxicated and almost jumped off the bridge into the freezing water where you would have choked and drowned and then in the morning, your dead corpse would be found washed up on the shores of River Thames with the whole world knowing you are deceased. No one would know if you took your own life or if someone threw you over the bridge? That's until the autopsy is done and everyone realizes, oh you were drunk so you carelessly just fell over the bridge because you were an intoxicated idiot who couldn't handle your liquor. Well, that would be the first conclusion of an incompetent idiot. How do you think your son would feel about that?"

"Who the hell are you?" snapped Louis angrily, tears springing into his eyes at the mention of his son and at how carelessly and hurtfully this stranger was talking to him as if she knew everything about him when she didn't know shit at all.

"Tonight, I am the woman who meddled in the life and death of a human being." said the stranger mysteriously as she raised her eyebrows at him, intriguing Louis who was taken aback "Tonight, I am the miracle you needed. And tonight, I am the foolish woman who happened to have a soft heart at that moment so I helped you."

"Why?"

"Because your son needs you. I don't like to see children cry and live without their parents." said the stranger coldly as she picked up her book once again but this time her coldness didn't seem horrible to Louis, in fact it seemed like a mask. Louis softened as he began to see this strange cold and brooding woman in a new light that was kinder and softer "No matter how you feel, you do have someone to live for."

"I know." whispered Louis as he buried his head on his hands and breathed in and then out "But you don't understand. You will never understand how much pain I am in - it just feels it won't go away."

"I don't understand?" scoffed the stranger incredulously as she looked at him disbelievingly, pain flickering in her dark eyes as her face hardened "I know exactly how it feels - how you're feeling. You feel trapped, hurt and misunderstood. You feel like this pain that you have bottled up inside of you will never go away. You feel like you're never good enough no matter what you do. You feel like the only way to end this pain is to end your own life."

Louis looked at her as his jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the stone cold woman who understood him even though they had just met. No one, not even his ex - girlfriend Eleanor had understood him and seen him the way this stranger had. It was as if she had seen all the pain he felt and put it into words perfectly. He was speechless in shock as he stared breathlessly as the woman in front of him.

"Don't find death. Death will always come finding for you." said the woman coolly as she flipped through some pages of the book and then looked at Louis who was looking at her in curiosity "And don't ever do something like that again. Your death isn't the worst thing that's going to happen to your loved ones. It's all the days that you stay dead that they have to live without you that is the worst thing they have to go through and if you love them - if you really love your son - you will never do something as selfish as taking your own life."

"Death is not the solution to your problems." said the woman as she stared deeply and almost kindly into Louis' eyes and he felt safe and secure with her for the first time in a long time.

"Then what is?"

At that very moment, Fathima bought a huge bag for the woman and a large platter of kebabs, burgers, chips, pizza, samosas for Louis whose eyes widened in wonder and his stomach grumbled in hunger. The woman thanked Fathima as she handed the cash to the lady and stood up with a small smile lighting her face for the first time "Food. Lots and lots of food. Eat up and go home straightaway. Do not do anything stupid. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."

As the woman walked away, Louis stood up immediately and ran up to her, surprised that she was leaving and not wanting her to leave so soon because he didn't even know her properly and he had to thank her "Wait! Where are you going? We were just becoming friends."

The woman turned around and Louis was surprised and his heart softened at the sight of her cold and impassive face which had become vulnerable and scared as she wore a reminiscent and nostalgic smile as if she was thinking of precious days gone by and she smiled at him sweetly and kindly with a hint of shyness and pain but he had a feeling that she was seeing someone else in his place "Those were the good old days."

Louis didn't know what to say as he stood frozen at the diner, watching her leave. He wanted to run after her and shout at her to stay with him but for some reason, the incredible vulnerability and the hurtful pain that he had seen her display had shocked him as he lapsed into thought and when he finally regained his ability to move, he saw that she was long gone.

* * *

She had found Geoffrey with the car where he told him to wait for her and now she was on her way home with him driving her quietly. She liked the silence and it helped her think. It was a very cold night out there and she was half freezing to death and she couldn't wait until she got home to dive in and eat everything that Fathima had cooked. But her stomach grumbled so she gave in as she opened the bag and started with the chips. 

Her phone rang and she rolled her eyes when she realized who was calling her. At the moment, her phone was connected with the car but she wasn't bothered to disconnect it so she answered the call "Hello." 

"Ah. Had a pleasant evening?" asked a teasing and familiar voice of her friend Howard who apparently liked to poke his large nose into her business when he wasn't wanted. 

"None of your business." she replied with a frown as she delved into the bag of chips and began to eat the greasy comforting junk food, sulking at the thought that her friend was still babysitting her and watching her every move from the security cameras around London. 

"How were the kebabs?" asked Howard pleasantly making her frown as she looked out of the window and spotted a security camera to which she gave the middle finger to and she heard her friend chuckle in amusement, knowing that he saw it "How refreshing to see you take an interest again. Was he nice?" 

"I just spoke to him." she said coldly, seeing Geoffrey hide a smile at their banter. 

"And made your usual impact on him." replied Howard smartly and knowingly, making her sigh as she looked down dismally. 

"No, no, no impact at all." she said quietly as she looked miserably and dismally out of the window "Those days are over. I don't do anything like that anymore." 

"You can't help yourself. It's in your blood. When someone needs help, you will always meddle like you did tonight." said Howard knowingly in a teasing tone but there was a hint of worry in his voice "You saved him. He now owes his life to you." 

"Oh for Christ's sake, he will never be able to find me again! And he doesn't even have my name!" she snapped angrily at Howard, angry at him for interfering, angry at him for caring, angry at him for bothering to worry about her for so long. "He will forget me and move on with his life!"

"Mark my words, he will come looking for you." said Howard as he looked at his friend having an angry outburst in her car through the cameras of London that he had hacked into "You are not a woman that can be easily forgotten, my friend." 

* * *

Back at the diner, Louis had finished his dinner and listened to everything that the nice and kind lady was raving about the strange woman who had apparently helped her when she was in financial difficulties and trouble with her husband, and finally helped her set up this nice kebab place. The more he learned about the stranger, the more she seemed like the kindest and generous person who helped people in trouble which was so unlike the persona that she exuded that was cold and dark and mysterious. 

"What is her name?" 

"Oh that's a dangerous question." said Fathima with a laugh as she shook her head at Louis "There are many names for her. She prefers to remain unknown and hidden in the shadows. If she did not confide her name in you, that means she did not deem you worthy of telling her name." 

"Her name is the Grim Reaper." said Fathima with a small smile at Louis "That is the name she chooses to go by. Her real name is unknown to many and only known to those closest to her." 

"Does that mean - I just met Death?" 

"She is Death to some people and to some people, she is the Angel of Life." said Fathima with a smile as she wiped the tables. "The choice is theirs." 

"You know her!" exclaimed Louis, his chest pounding in intrigue and excitement "I need to talk to her. I need to know who she is. What is her name?" 

"Her name is the Grim Reaper." replied Fathima with a small and sad smile "All the name she needs, all you need to know about her." 

"How do I meet her?" 

"You don't. She doesn't want you to find her." 

"But I want to thank her. For what she - she helped me tonight. Please - it's important that I must thank her." 

"Come tomorrow here same time without anyone. You will get the chance to meet her." 


End file.
